Strategies and validation for siRNA-based therapeutics for the reversal of multi-drug resistance in cancer

• Lack of drug specificity causes effectiveness and side-effects of cancer therapy.
• siRNA is one of the potential tools for gene knockdown and reversal of drug resistance.
• Silencing of drug transporter or other cellular genes could sensitize cancer cells to drugs.

Resistance of cancer cells to anticancer drugs is the main reason for the failure of traditional cancer treatments. Various cellular components and different loops within the signaling pathways contribute to drug resistance which could be modulated with the aim to restore drug efficacy. Unveiling the molecular mechanisms for cancer drug resistance has now paved the way for the development of novel approaches to regulate the response rates to anticancer drugs at the genetic level. The recent progress on identification and validation of the vital genes directly or indirectly involved in development of cancer drug resistance with the aid of the specific knock down ability of RNA interference technology is discussed in this review.